Science Says You Suck at Video Games If You Do This

Most female gamers have grown accustomed to hearing guys online call them all sorts of terrible, sexist names, but now, they have scientific evidence of what we’ve suspected all along: those men are compensating for something!

According to a study at the Kasumovic Lab, male gamers who are verbally hostile to women while playing games are also much more likely to suck at the game. It is a quantitive demonstration of something obvious to everyone except the guys guilty of hostile, sexist behavior.

Based on a sampling of 163 games of Halo 3 played in 2014, researchers found that the worse a male was at the game, the more likely he was to verbally abuse a female teammate. The likelihood of hurling insults increased if the female gamer in question was an opponent they were losing to. It’s almost as though they have some deep-seeded problem with the thought of a woman succeeding in any field they felt belonged to them…

Even when the team prevented data skewing by controlling for toxic players and routine shit-players, the results were the same.

Unfortunately, the study didn’t delve into demographic data like age or background, and one could argue that people playing Halo 3 aren’t representative of anything but casual video game players. But it certainly does make for a relatively accurate sample of dudes who play games like Halo 3.

The next time you hear a male player berating a female player worse than her male counterparts, take comfort in the knowledge that he’s only doing it because he’s terrible at the game, and maybe life too.

As for the guys that are prone to putting down their female teammates and opponents, just shut up and play. Running your mouth isn’t going to improve your headshot prowess.